A typical disc drive includes a base to which various components of the disc drive are mounted. A top cover cooperates with the base to form a housing that defines an internal, sealed environment for the disc drive. The components include a spindle motor, which rotates one or more discs at a high speed. Information is written to and read from tracks on the discs through the use of an actuator assembly, which rotates during a seek operation about a bearing shaft assembly positioned adjacent the discs. The actuator assembly includes at least one actuator arm, which extends towards the discs, with one or more flexures extending from each of the actuator arms. Mounted at the distal end of each of the flexures is a head, which includes an air bearing slider enabling the head to fly in close proximity above the corresponding surface of the associated disc.
Particles in the disc drive have an adverse effect on drive reliability. Of particular concern are airborne particles that enter the head-disc interface. These particles can scratch the disc surface or become embedded in the disc, leading to catastrophic failures and/or irrecoverable data loss. Additionally, particles under the slider can damage the sensitive head transducer and possibly prevent any further read/write operations of the disc drive.
Additionally, vibrations in the disc drive can have an adverse effect on drive reliability by creating unpredicted movement between the head and the disc. Such unpredicted movement can cause read/write errors. Such movement also prevents narrower tracks from being used in disc drives, and thus limits the memory capability of the disc drive.
Accordingly there is a need for a disc drive that reduces the number of particles entering the head/disc interface and that decreases the vibrations in the disc drive. The present invention provides a solution to this and other problems, and offers other advantages over the prior art.